Interested in acquiring a piece
or collaborating on a project?
Please reach out by email:
Spencer is a self-taught artist who began drawing at a young age. Her professional career began in New York City in 1997 working in the fields of advertising and event production. She was a photographer before devoting herself entirely to drawing and painting in 2003 while living in Paris. During this time, Spencer created small works loosely superimposing cartoon-based forms and non-figurative shapes. Influenced by surrealism, cubism and abstract expressionism, this period gave birth to figures and landscapes she would build upon in her later work. The financial crisis in 2008 marked a turning point in Spencer’s art. She began using symbols and content from news sources, reflecting more social, political and cultural themes such as healthcare and different facets of the economic crisis. The presidential campaigns in France and in the United States informed her paintings and the general state of world affairs led to her creating larger compositions, loosening her brushstrokes and exploring more explosive movement, content and color. In 2010, Spencer moved to Chicago, where she currently lives and works.
She is the Founder of Hana Pietri, an artist-run platform, studio, gallery + art production space that champions self-taught and contemporary artists and projects. Spencer is also the co-founder of Latest Acquisition.
Her work is included in many private collections throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
SELECT SOLO & GROUP SHOWS
SOLO
2016 "Artform", Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago
2011 "Subconscious Thought", Robert Bills Contemporary, Chicago
2008 "Drawings and paintings", Le Mécène, Paris
2007 "Drawings and paintings", Cabinet 28 octobre, Paris
2003 "Manhattan slideshow", exhibition of photographs in a private apartment, Paris
1999 "When a night turns dark", exhibition of photographs in a private apartment, NYC
1999 "Players?", exhibition of photographs in a private apartment, NYC
1998 "Projecting", Void, NYC
1998 "Unusual pictures", Gemini, NYC
GROUP
2024 Awakening Earth, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago
2021 Eat Paint Studio Gallery, Chicago
2021 The Other Art Fair, Revel Fulton Market, Chicago
2018 The Other Art Fair, Mana Contemporary, Chicago
2017 "30 Ans de l'Association Florence", Espace Commines, Paris
2015 “Sights, Sounds, and Sensations of the City”, State Street Gallery at Robert Morris University, Chicago
2011 Lincoln Park Art Fair, Chicago
2011 "Circus Surreal", The Observatory, Chicago
2011 "Exploding faces, (Confining Spaces)", Robert Bills Contemporary, Chicago
2010 New works, FIAC Off, Atelier of Xavier Deshoulieres, Paris
2009 "Imaginaire", Espace Commines, Paris
2007 Housing Works Art Show, Housing Works bookstore, NYC
1998 " Save the Garden", CHARAS / El Bohio, NYC
SELECT PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
03.11.2011 Art Burst Chicago
02.25.2011 The Chicago Tribune
02.02.2011 Chicago Art Review
2011/2012 La Bible de la Figuration Contemporaine, Editions Lelivredart, Paris
EDUCATION
1996 Bachelor of Arts / Hispanic Studies / Connecticut College
1995 Universidad de las Americas, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico
1994 La Nouvelle Sorbonne, Paris, France